The Last of Us Part II from Naughty Dog is one of the most anticipated games of the PS4 generation and with record-breaking sales at the onset that’s more than clear. So if you missed the hype train because you hadn’t played the first one yet, now is the time. Stop reading this article, play the first game, and come back to finish this article. Now that we have that out of the way lets get down to business. After building great expectations from a near-perfect game from the previous installment, It was time for Naughty Dog to expand this zombie-ridden universe with another installment a long seven years later.
Plot
This game continues the story where last of us one left off expanding on the post-apocalyptic world we were introduced to in the first game. In The Last of Us Part II, the underlying theme is revenge. Asking the player; How far would you go get vengeance against someone who wronged you? Well in this thought exercise of a game, you can dive deep into the emotions of loss, trauma, love, happiness, and regret from not focusing on the latter when its right in front of your face. This is an incredibly emotional journey, so prepare yourself to play through a huge range of emotions.
Gameplay and mechanics
The gameplay is a mixture of stealth and all-out Rambo like shoot outs, depending on your chosen difficulty and scavenger skills that can make careless shootouts possible otherwise expect to be saving every bullet for emergency situations.
Enemies
During The Last of Us Part II, players will face human, zombie, and sadly dog combatants each offering different challenges. The fungus infected zombies are back with the addition of some new types to continue to spice things up.
Human combatants are where it gets interesting; there are many different factions of humans in this game, and there is something very special that Naughty Dog does in this game, they give many of the people and dogs names. So when someone gets taken out, or their body is found, the remaining people call out the victim’s name. This feeds into one of the greater themes of the game; everyone in the game has a life, a story, and is fighting for their lives just like Ellie.
The Last of Us series has always been about, “What if it was real?” How could zombies really be a thing? Oh, you know what there is a fungus that actually exists, and it turns insects into zombies. Okay then, so what if the apocalypse happened? What would that look like, and moreover, what would it feel like? Who would survive, and what would it do to the world? To the world’s people?
That’s the real strength of the game, deep immersion in a grounded reality that thankfully isn’t real, along with insanely good character development. People have many very real feelings about these games, outrage, compassion, sadness, and love. Its because we connect with the characters on their journey in the personal moments they have together. The great gameplay, beautiful environments, masterful storytelling, it’s all layered into one fantastic game experience. Sure there were many times I had to take a break after parts of this game, but it doesn’t take away from how magical the ultimate experience ended up being. That’s why I’m giving this game a 10/10. Well done Naugty Dog, well done.
For more information, please visit: https://www.naughtydog.com/
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PlayStation 4 Review
I've been a life long nerd and video game junkie known to associate with the likes of Link, Nathan Drake, Batman, and Master Chief. I'm a filmmaker by profession, but spend lots of time behind a controller escaping the real world. @GregVelde on Instagram/Twitter/YouTube
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